Red Lodge, Suffolk
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Coordinates: 52°18′14″N 0°29′35″E / 52.304°N 0.493°E
| Red Lodge | |
 Red Lodge
Red Lodge shown within Suffolk |
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| District | Forest Heath |
|---|---|
| Shire county | Suffolk |
| Region | East |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| EU Parliament | East of England |
| List of places: UK • England • Suffolk | |
Red Lodge is a village situated in rural Suffolk between Mildenhall and Newmarket, and very close to the A11 and A14.
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[edit] The Village
Much development has taken place here over the last couple of years and it is still ongoing. This development consists of new homes from a variety of building companies and an industrial estate. Red lodge also has many parks (play areas) that have been built or re-constructed. Red lodge has many grassy areas, a post office, bus stops for going out and new building are currently being built (February 2012). It is acknowledged[by whom?] that this is predominantly due to Red Lodge's convenient central location within East Anglia allowing easy access to Bury St Edmunds, Cambridge and London to name but a few. Forest Heath District Council devised a master plan in 1998 for Red Lodge which shows the proposed vision for the village. The council's master plan is viewable on the internet.[citation needed]
[edit] Red Lodge History
Part of the area being developed has been named King's Warren. This name relates to when Henry III allowed the Bishop of Rochester the right of Free Warren on the land in the 13th century, 1248 to be precise, thus allowing the Bishop to hunt game birds and rabbits. In 1794 the Warren covered about 450 acres (1.8 km2) and by 1918 only 150 acres (0.61 km2) remained. A large amount of this remaining land was then sold in 1926 which resulted in the development of the original Red Lodge Village. This development spanned over about 10 years. Further building took place in the 1980s and then in the year 2000, a number of Planning Applications were submitted for the most recent developments that are still ongoing. It is possible, although not confirmed, that the Red Lodge Inn Public House is the oldest building in Red Lodge and this dates back to the 13th century.
[edit] Red Lodge Nature
The Red Lodge Heath has an assemblage of invertebrates on it consisting of bees, ants, wasps and beetles. The species of invertebrates are a number mainly associated with dry grassland and wet woodland with ponds. Red Lodge Heath is an area of dry acid grassland, chalk grassland, lichen heath and wet woodland with ponds. Disturbed, bare soil within open habitats provides the conditions for early-successional plants as well as a wide range of invertebrates. The dry grassland invertebrates at Red Lodge Heath, like those of other heaths, depend very much on patches of bare ground within the grasslands. The assemblage includes a very special population of the nationally rare five-banded tailed digger wasp, Cerceris quinquefasciata. This is a medium-sized yellow and black solitary digger wasp that catches weevils and stores them in burrows to feed its young. It can be found at Red Lodge Heath nesting in bare sand along a path in the north of the site, and on sparsely vegetated slopes in the west of the heath. Adults are found flying throughout the dry grasslands. It requires open sandy soils for nesting, and abundant weevil prey in flower-rich sandy grasslands, as each nest needs up to 500 weevils. This requires a large area of flower-rich grassland per wasp, so that there is sufficient area to supply the required number of weevils to feed the young when they emerge.
[edit] Transport
The nearest train station to Red Lodge is in Kennett, 2 miles (3 km) away. Buses also serve the village and stops are conveniently located in Warren Road, Red Lodge. The regular bus service goes to Mildenhall, Newmarket, Bury St Edmunds and outlying towns and villages. Stansted Airport is 41 miles (66 km) away and Luton Airport is 55 miles (89 km).
[edit] Local economy
Red Lodge is well known locally by lorry drivers for the truckers' cafe and there is also Red Lodge Karting, a karting track which hosts many events that is popular with the leisure enthusiast.
There are plans for a new village centre, which should include a supermarket, a doctors' surgery, a Post Office and other recreational facilities including a football ground, a cricket pitch, a sports pavilion and a well equipped children's play area.
[edit] Education
There are provisions for a primary school to be opened and an area has been catered for this purpose within the newly developed area. The plans show that the primary school currently located in Tuddenham, a nearby village, will be relocated to the new school in Red Lodge once this is built. Construction of the new primary school is now under-way (Autumn 2011) and is due for completion by the start of the new school year in September 2012.
